ARCC Gap: East Africa - Uganda, Kenya & Tanzania

Name: ARCC Gap: East Africa - Uganda, Kenya & Tanzania
Brand: ARCC Programs
SKU: 14766
Rating: 4.93 (45 reviews)

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4.93 Rating

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Location

Multiple Locations +3

Uganda
Kenya
Tanzania

Length

4 - 12 weeks

Program Tags

Adventure Travel College Credit Conservation Cultural Immersion Hands-On Learning Language Immersion Post-High School Social Justice Volunteer Abroad Wilderness

Need-based funding, General grants/scholarships, Payment plans, 529 Plan eligibility, BIPOC funding

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Program Details

Activities

Animal Viewing Bird Watching Boating Camping City Exploring Farming Hiking Rafting Remote Exploring Safari Sailing Sightseeing Snorkeling Swimming

Timeframe

Fall

Housing

Guesthouse Host Family Hostel Hotel Tent

Primary Language

English

Age Min.

Age Max

Pricing

Starting Price

16000

Price Details

Program tuition includes accommodations, ground transportation, food, and activities once participants are in-country.

Airfare is not included.

What's Included

Accommodation Activities Some Equipment Meals Park Fees Tour Guide

What's Not Included

Airfare Some Equipment Travel Insurance Visa

Last Updated: Sep 03, 2024

Last Reviewed: Nov 05, 2024

Wish List

57 travelers are looking at this program

About Program

The East Africa gap year program explores the majesty, cultures, and challenges of three East African nations: Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania. We take advantage of our unparalleled access and gain a unique education on this fascinating expanse of Africa. Shadowing a peer at Kenya’s first free all-female secondary school, we are inspired by the strength and passion of the next generation. Tromping through the equatorial rainforest with wildlife biologists, surveying habitat for endangered species, we witness the environmental struggle. Shadowing nurses in a rural health clinic in Tanzania, we gain a unique insight into access to health care for these Maasai communities. Building solar panels alongside local community members, we understand how important this renewable resource is for the families we are working with. Witnessing a family of elephants trek through the Ngorongoro Crater at sunrise, we experience one of life’s unforgettable moments.

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Diversity & Inclusion

ARCC Programs believes that social responsibility is an essential aspect of our programming and business operations. We strongly believe that cultural immersion, cross-cultural conversations, and reflection on these experiences can increase self-awareness, promote empathy, and foster growth. We recognize that our staff, student, and participant body is not as diverse as we would hope. We also recognize that there are inherent imbalances in access, particularly when it comes to international travel and outdoor experiences. Recognizing the current imbalances and accessibility issues within the world and more specifically within experiential/outdoor education/gap year programs, we are able to move towards a more just and inclusive world.

ARCC is committed to increasing accessibility for our programs and supporting socioeconomic diversity within our community. ARCC’s Voyagers Scholarship provides up to five scholarship opportunities per semester to students who identify within the BIPOC community. These scholarships can range anywhere from $5,000-$8,000, and also include gear lending and mentorship support throughout the gap year experience. The Voyagers Scholarship can also be combined with ARCC Financial Aid.

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Our Essential Eligibility Criteria outlines the requirements for participation in our programs to determine if our programs are a good fit for each student. While ARCC Gap is not a therapeutic program, we do provide an inclusive environment for students with neurodivergence. We have had students with various diagnosed neuro-differences (such as dyslexia, ADHD, ASD, TS, dyspraxia, dysgraphia, etc) find success on our gap semester programs.

During our interview process, we have open communication with students and families about the support ARCC instructors are able to provide students while on program. For students needing some additional support, we ask them to complete a “Plan of Action” with their at home support system. These plans may include additional information about communication/support preferences, coping strategies, and/or specific requirements to encourage the student to engage with the program effectively. Once on the program, our instructors will periodically check in individually with each student, help the student stay accountable to their Plan of Action, and provide general support to all participants.

ARCC Gap Travels to locations around the world that have varying levels of accommodations for students needing accessibility support. For this reason, please see our Essential Eligibility Criteria to see if our gap programs are a good fit for you.

Whenever possible (determined by specific location and program - ie. infrastructure, access to specific health care facilities, dietary options available, etc), we have successfully assisted students with anaphylactic allergies, chronic medical conditions, and other accommodations on programs. We recommend that you reach out with specific concerns to your Gap Director to find the right fit for you.

Impact

At ARCC Programs we recognize that all human action impacts our physical environment and the living beings on the planet. Everything on Earth plays a role in supporting life and we believe that it is our responsibility to have a net positive impact with our actions. We strive to balance the impacts of our programming by partnering with communities and organizations with similar goals toward bettering our planet for future generations.

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ARCC believes that we (as an industry) need to shift the way we think about international service. We (as a society) have now come to realize that international volunteers often benefit from their service experience, while the impact on the community can be short-lived or even harmful. We at ARCC are taking the years of experience that we have in the international service learning realm, have reflected on previous mistakes, learned from our in-country partners, and have made changes. Our goal is to live, work, and learn alongside community members while also making a positive impact. We are committed to partnering with local community-driven organizations to focus on reciprocity while contributing to established long-term projects. It is our responsibility to engage in mutually beneficial community-driven projects and teach fair trade learning principles to our students.

Program Highlights

Work at a Rhino Sanctuary and Witness the Efforts in Place to Protect Africa’s Sacred Animals
Whitewater Raft the Exhilarating Nile River
Construct and Install Solar Power Systems into Rural Tanzanian Homes
Shadow Nurses and Teachers at a Tanzanian Community Center
Study Education by Living with Students at East Africa’s First Free All-Female Secondary School

Program Dates

Application Deadline

August 1, 2025

Program Dates

September 1, 2025 - November 9, 2025

Current Jobs

View the latest job postings by ARCC Programs.

Lead Summer Adventure Travel Programs

United States of America

Posted
4 weeks ago

ARCC Programs

Program Reviews

4.93 Rating

based on 45 reviews

Leave a Review

Rating Spread Gap Year

5 rating 93.33%
4 rating 6.67%
3 rating 0%
2 rating 0%
1 rating 0%

Housing 4.7
Support 4.95
Fun 4.9
Value 4.9
Safety 4.9

Good for Students, Adventure travelers

Showing 9 - 16 of 45 reviews

ARCC’s East Africa program has all the stops for a good gap year experience. The people I was with are similar to me, they are all navigating their life as they grow. The social scene is wonderful and you grow really close to these people and learn social skills. Cultural immersion on this trip is very good, the only touristy spot we go is to Zanzibar at the very end. Besides that, you can learn so much from local people. You can choose to be close with your friends, and/or be close with the local communities and culture. It’s a spectacular program. My leaders John and Olivia were the best I could have asked for. This program was so good that I’m doing another gap semester with ARCC, in the spring. Come with me on the Pacific Islands Gap Semester in February of 2024!

Pros

Great instructors who are very supportive, and you could even call them friends
Cultural immersion that is so real and so fulfilling
Development of social skills, and learning to love yourself

Cons

Rules are sometimes a little too strict, but not much.

ARCC IS THE GREATEST. EVERYONE SHOULD GO ON A TRIP WITH THEM. It is a really great way to meet similar minded people and experience the world like you never had before. You will create lifelong friendships and memories that will last forever. Your worldview will be permanently changed for the better, being more accepting of all and more conscious of how you impact the world. My instructors, John and Olivia were incredible. They quickly became some of my favorite people to talk to, and made this trip the greatest!

Pros

Community
Exploration
Fun

Cons

Naur

I participated in ARCC’s East Africa Fall Gap Program. Coming into the semester, I was excited to meet a new group of students all taking a gap year and explore parts of the world I had never been to. Throughout my semester, I met the best group of people, making friendships I know will last a life time and learned an incredible amount about the cultures, languages, and food throughout East Africa. The service projects were such a valuable experience as well. Even our instructors always brought the best energy to the group and were incredibly supportive throughout our two months abroad. I had such a wide and amazing range of experiences during this trip and learnt so much about the world and myself.

Pros

Meeting an amazing group of friends
Learning about new cultures

Cons

ARCCs East Africa program was so incredibly amazing and life changing. Our instructors, John and Olivia, made the experience 100 times better. Through the homestays, service work, and adventures, I gained so much new knowledge and different perspectives which I will carry with me for the rest of my life. I will forever remember everyone in my group as they became family and will now have forever friends. Although it was never racking to meet a new group of people John and Olivia provided comfort and support that helped me ease my way into meeting everyone and having the group bond with each other.

Going on the ARCC East Africa gap year program was a once in a lifetime experience. This program took us around Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania for 70 days. In each country we explored everything from the big cities to small nooks and crannies. We had a vast variety of opportunities and experiences that I never would have otherwise gotten. The program was well run. All these experiences allowed me to grow as a person. This program allowed me to be immersed in different cultures, bringing new perspectives to every day life for me.

My ARCC gap semester absolutely changed my life. I loved every aspect of it, I think it was very well planned out. Both of my instructors which absolutely incredible, they were so supportive, fun, understanding, and added so much to my trip. The trip was so much fun, and ARCC provided so much support, structure, and well organized planning to create the best trip possible. ARCC does a great job adding in so many immersive learning activities that helped me learn and grow in so many ways, while maintaining so much fun throughout the trip. Would definitely recommend!

This program was the best decision ever. I learned so much from my instructors, interacting with locals and various service projects. I will remember my friendships within my group and everyone I met a long the way for my whole life.
Traveling by boat, plane, van, and overland has been such a cool experience and I loved camping with my new family.
Meeting locals from different backgrounds and countries has taught me life skills to last me a lifetime. I am forever grateful for this opportunity to work and learn in another country in places that I would never have been able to experience by myself.

Pros

Immersing yourself in the culture
Learning to work/live in a group
Expand your comfort zone and learn about yourself

Cons

Only 70 days 😭😭

The East Africa semester was incredible. I was so grateful for the opportunity to experience a culture so vastly different from my own. I was especially excited and passionate about the service work we did, mainly the solar project and the rhino sanctuary. I wish we could have spent more time doing both. I would recommend this ARCC semester to any high school or college student. East Africa was a place I knew little about prior to this semester, and I feel much more well informed on the three countries (Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania) that we spent time in.

Pros

Terrific cultural immersion
A couple really unique service projects
A wide variety of places visited, lots of different landscapes

Cons

The food was often bland, and nutritionally poor
I thought the group size was slightly too big, would have preferred around 7 students or so.
Group living is exhausting, not a lot of solo time on this semester.

Questions & Answers

Alumni Interviews

These are in-depth Q&A sessions with verified alumni.

Why did you choose this program?

I chose to spend my first semester with the ARCC Gap Year Program for many reasons.

From the beginning, ARCC presented an extremely welcoming and engaging opportunity. After talking briefly with other organizations about their programs, where I could go, what a potential itinerary could be, I had no doubt that ARCC was the perfect match for me, they offered everything I was looking for and dreaming of. With a very organized website, stunning reviews, and very friendly staff that responded immediately to my many questions, I knew I could 100% trust this organization.

What did your program provider (or university) assist you with, and what did you have to organize on your own?

ARCC sent out many personal emails and forms out to not only myself but also my parents. We received phone calls, video chats, and emails very frequently. These emails had lots of information, some focused on just describing the beautiful Masai culture we'd be living in or the population food in each culture. Other emails were about the specifics of the trip or scheduling a time to video chat and touch base.

There was also a very informative and helpful pre-departure webinar answering all the questions imaginable.

I had to do a lot of this on my own, of course with the help of ARCC and my family. My high school, however, was not very familiar with this pathway and left me to work my way through it.

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What is one piece of advice you'd give to someone going on your program?

My three months in East Africa with ARCC was the most amazing and incredible time of my life. I cannot begin to describe how much pure love and joy I experienced. There are some tough times, not everything is rainbows and butterflies. But those tougher moments make the other ones that much better.

Embrace the uncomfortable, the weird, the different. You will never regret taking a chance like this. I never once felt homesick, but now being back home, I am flooded with that feeling, wishing I was back with my ARCC family.

What does an average day/week look like as a participant of this program?

It's hard to pinpoint exactly what an average day/week looks like in an ARCC program.

For my trip, we had about 50 days of camping, where we would wake up around 7:00 to prepare breakfast, get ready, and head off to whatever activity we were doing that day. We traveled around in a huge truck that held all our bags and food, so some days were spent traveling to a new location and singing throwbacks at the top of your lungs.

Without fail, however, every night before dinner, we would do a "chow circle" where we would come together, make announcements, give shoutouts, and "pass the pulse". P the P was a silent hand squeeze to the person next to you until it went all the way around the circle, a reassuring feeling that we are all there for each other.

Going into your experience abroad, what was your biggest fear, and how did you overcome it? How did your views on the issue change?

Having struggled with anxiety and depression throughout high school, I was extremely nervous I couldn't do it. I wouldn't make friends, I'd be homesick, I'd be left behind and forgotten by my friends now in college. I got into my own head and started making up scenarios to scare myself. I thought I wasn't brave or strong enough.

What I learned, however, was that stepping out of your comfort zone and facing these fears head-on is sometimes the only way to understand what you're capable of.

Is there any other advice for prospective travelers?

Not only did I make some of the best friends imaginable, but I also met the love of my life.

Going into my gap year, I knew I wanted to focus on myself, learn to love myself before loving anyone else. And I did learn to do that, but I also learned what it feels like to truly be loved. So I guess my advice is to just be open to new relationships with the people on your trip, you may meet the person you didn't know you were even missing from your life.

Liz Shull

2012 Alum

Staff Interviews

These are in-depth Q&A sessions with program leaders.

Margo Brookfield

Program

ARCC Gap: East Africa - Uganda, Kenya & Tanzania

Job Title

Gap Semester Instructor

Margo was born and raised in Prairie Village, Kansas but was drawn out west to Oregon for college where she studied International Studies with a focus on development in Africa. She first studied abroad at the age of 16 and has not been able to stop traveling since.

girl with a cat and little girl

What is your favorite travel memory?

Margo’s favorite travel memory was on Latin America Gap while traveling through Ecuador. For the Student Planned Weekend, her students planned a journey into the mountains of Ecuador to visit Lake Quilatoa, a picturesque caldera lake high up in the mountains. The students found an eco-lodge called the Black Sheep Inn for the group to stay at that provided all vegetarian meals, packed lunches, composting toilets, and rides up to the lake for hiking. The group did a seven-hour hike around the rim of the lake and then back through the valley to the lodge. Not only was it a fantastic weekend and wonderful place to visit, but the reason it is Margo’s favorite is because the trip was completely planned by her students who worked together to figure it out and problem solve when they hit bumps in the road.

Which destination is most underrated? Conversely, which is most overrated?

The destination that Margo considers to be most overrated is Costa Rica. It is a wonderful and beautiful country, but it is heavily trafficked by tourists and as a result does not have as authentic or impactful of a cultural experience as many other places (particularly within Central America). Of the countries Margo has traveled to with ARCC, Ecuador would have to be one of the most underrated. It is a breathtakingly beautiful country that has mountains, desert, rainforest, and coastline, along with a rich indigenous culture coupled with big, clean, bustling and developed cities like Quito. It is also super affordable, and a must visit for anyone interested in Latin America!

How have you changed/grown since working for your current company?

The amount that Margo has changed and grown through working with ARCC is indescribable. She has grown as a leader and a mentor, and learned so much about who she still wants to become within this role. She feels lucky to have made such deep connections with the many teenagers she has had the pleasure of working with, and is very much looking forward to the many students she will have on future trips. Through this she has also learned to have more patience than she imagined possible, and learned to not be too hard on herself in this role. But most importantly she has had opportunities that she never could have imagined, and feels spoiled to be able to have her dream job.

What unique qualities does your company possess?

ARCC has a very unique vibe as a company, something that is rarely found in any industry. The thing that is so important and crucial to the success of ARCC, is that ARCC is a family. Every person that is a part of ARCC is made sure to know this fact. Once you are a part of this family, you are always a part of it. Being a small office, the staff is able to really get to know their leaders out in the field making sure no one gets lost in the shuffle as one could at a larger company. Margo has felt so supported by this community, and this is what makes ARCC an incredible place to work and the ideal company to be a part of. And above all, working for ARCC is an absolute blast!

Describe a time when you felt especially proud to be part of your current team.

Margo feels proud to be a part of this team every time a student comes away from a program with a changed perspective of the world around them, on life, or on themselves. Teenagers are given an incomparable opportunity to grow and learn on an ARCC trip, whether it is a short summer trip or an entire gap semester, a growth that some may not even realize until months after the trip has ended. But without them even realizing, their world is opened up and they have made friendships that last a lifetime. This is the impact that ARCC has on those who are fortunate enough to be a part of it, and it is a magical thing to witness.

Phil Perl

Trip Leader

About ARCC Programs

ARCC has been offering summer and gap programs for young adults since 1983. We offer an opportunity to live and learn in some of the greatest classrooms on earth. Our programs take students on a journey of discovery of local peoples, places, cultures and ideas through project-based learning, rich cultural immersion, personal reflection and...